Shadowed Things
by Something Witty About Ramen
Summary: Sequel to Two Paper Fans, same warnings apply. Life begins to move towards relative normalcy, but some things need to be sorted out first. Minor crossover with Gravitation.


I'd better warn you in advance that this one doesn't exactly answer the questions it raises. That's because I still plan to write the thing that _does_ clear things up, I just haven't done so yet. In the meantime, try not to let it bug you _too_ much.

°°°

They go out to see a movie that everyone has been talking about, planning on making it their first proper date. They go to dinner first (Hikaru buys, naturally) and reach the movie theater as the sun is beginning to disappear below the horizon. Sai stops to retie one of his new shoes while Hikaru buys their tickets.

A well-dressed older man strides past Sai, bumping into him hard enough that to knock him over. He stops and turns to help Sai, but there is something off about him, too dark. Sai doesn't like this man, though he is not sure why. The shadows deepen, the man stumbles away, and Sai goes after Hikaru.

"You okay? Your eyes look like they've been replaced by go stones or something," Hikaru says.

"I'm fine," Sai replies, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. It feels wrong, too stiff and a bit cooler than it should, but he dismisses it. After all, he is alive and with Hikaru, who loves him enough that the gods let Sai be here this way.

The movie is enjoyable, but nothing either of them would want to own.

Hikaru's family isn't sure what to think of his new relationship. His parents put Sai in the guest room the first night, but Hikaru went sleepwalking for the first time in his life and crawled into bed next to Sai. He woke up confused but happy the next morning, and after three more nights of the same exact thing happening his parents decided to surrender any hopes of propriety and let Sai share Hikaru's room again. They know the real story about how Sai and Hikaru know each other, and Hikaru's grandfather is really just pleased to know that his old goban really had been haunted.

Mostly, though, the family is thankful that Hikaru's whole life isn't being scrutinized like his cousin's.

Sai is waiting outside after Hikaru and Touya's matches are over. It's becoming a ritual: Sai does as he pleases for the hours when Hikaru is playing, sometimes meeting him and his friends for lunch, and is always there when the match is over. Today he is sitting against a wall, looking intently at what appears at this distance to be a pale butterfly with fan-shaped wings resting on his knee. It flies away when Hikaru draws near, and Sai is on his feet quickly, a brilliant smile on his face.

"Hikaruuu! You played so well today, but I got distracted during the last part," he says, forgetting to confirm whether Touya knows that he and Hikaru can somewhat read each other's mind. "Will you tell me what happened after you put that stone at 13-8?"

Hikaru smiles and does so, but files the butterfly in his mind as something to ask about later. It looks like he's going to have to field some more questions from his rival, too.

When Hikaru does ask, that night when they're playing their own game of go, Sai explains that the butterfly was a messenger from the gods, making sure he was adjusting well. There is definitely something else to it that's disturbing Sai, but while Hikaru can sense its presence he doesn't ask. They finish their game and then go to sleep, comfortably together.

Spring turns quickly into summer, and Hikaru doesn't bother to continue with school anymore at all. He notices how strangely Sai acts sometimes and asks him about it, but usually Sai explains it away as a side effect of his new life. Hikaru is beginning to get annoyed, but he remembers stories from his childhood and from other cultures where a person was separated from his or her otherworldly lover because of curiosity or a lack of trust. He does want to know what's going on, though, so he tells Sai that he will respect his privacy but would appreciate being told what the hell is going on, exactly.

Sai makes the go stones rise out of their cups and dance around their bedroom, never lifting a finger but clutching his fan nervously. "They sent me back entirely different," he says, and puts the stones back. Hikaru watches as Sai's hair and eyes and skin begin to look normal again and thinks he might be figuring out what the gods did.

Hikaru's seventeenth birthday finally arrives, and on the actual day there is only a small party for the family: Hikaru's parents and grandparents, his aunt and uncle and younger cousin (she's older than him, but the younger of two siblings--her brother will be back in Japan tomorrow morning), and of course Sai. Cousin Maiko makes a comment about how the gay thing really does run in families, but is otherwise very accepting. Her parents seem to think Hikaru's just going through a phase of his own, but they don't actually say anything and are impressed by Sai's lovely manners.

Next night is the real party, and a lot of Hikaru's Institute friends are there, as are Akari and Mitani and other friends from school. Then Cousin Shuichi arrives with his boyfriend and best friend in tow and the parents (and grandparents) all leave and it begins to turn into probably the best party in all of Japan, at least for that month.

Sai goes outside for fresh air at one point and talks with Shuichi's boyfriend. Hikaru is too busy listening to Shuichi tell Akari and Fuku about the time he pretended to be Yuki's fiancée to pay attention to what they're saying, but Sai feels angry and offended. When he comes inside he stays near Hikaru for the rest of the party.

Two nights later, after they decide on an apartment and before they make love for the first time, Sai tells Hikaru everything. Three black stones rattle around in a little go-ke Sai has made, and Hikaru knows he will never have anything to fear as long as Sai is there.


End file.
